Detachable spool mounting



June 27, 1944. o, MEHAN 2,352,279

DETACHABLE SPOOL MOUNTING Original Filed May 25, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 II I I I I I I l I I I I l I l I I I I 1 I I I I I i I I I I I I l I I II I l I l I I INVENTOR.

f homa/s 0/78/1072 June 27, 1944. Q MEHAN DETACHABLE SPOOL MOUNTING 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Fil ed May 25, 1939 INVENTOR; I BY ThomaONE/72am Patented June 27, 1944 DETACHABLE SPOOL MOUNTING Thomas Mehan,Park Ridge, Ill.

' Original application May 25, 1939, Serial No.

Divided and this application October so. 1941. Serial No. 417,157

3 Claims.

This invention relates to detachable paper spool mountings for use inconnection with adding and listing machines and particularly for use:with

. portable calculating machines.

Heretofore it has been customary in machines of the class above referredto, and particularly in portable calculating machines, to provide a pairof rigid brackets formed integrally with or in some manner permanentlyand rigidly attached to the frame of the machines designed to releasablyretain and support a pin on which rolls of paper for adding and listingmay be mounted. Ex perience has revealed a number of disad antages .insuch constructions.-

pin-must extend far enough away from the main frame of the machine toallow clearance for'the mounting of the maximum sized paper spools thatmay be used on the machine. When such a support-is provided in aportable adding machine, it normally extends a considerable distancerearwardly of the remainder of the machine. Normally the casing for themachine is designed to enclose the working parts of the machineexcepting the 'spool as snugly as possible. Generally such a support ofa size adequate to retain" large spools will extend outwardly through anaperture -in the casing. When the machine is packed for shipping,special precautions must be taken to guard the projecting bracketsagainst injury, because if they are struck a hard blow, they forcethereof is transmitted to the main frame of the machine and oftenresults in some misalignment of the frame which will render. the machineinoperative because of such distortion.

Similarly, when the machine has been unpacked and is in use, if it be ofthe portable type, these sameprojecting brackets are apt to be struckaccidentally when the machine is beingcarried around or if it be droppedaccidentally and again the main frame of the machine may be distortedwith the same danger to its operativeness.

One of the objects of the present invention is to eliminate thepermanent rigid protruding paper roll supports and substitute therefor aspool mounting including a holder which is integral with the paper spoolitself, and which is preferably made of some light weight material,which if accidentally struck, will itself become distorted instead oftransmitting the full force of the blow to the frame of the machine.

Another object attained by this invention and arising out of the use ofthe spool holder integral with the spool is that when the machines areshipped from the factory, the paper spool will not The support forsuch atill be mounted thereon, hence there need be no spool support projectingthrough the casing.

Another object of the invention is to provide paper spool holders sodesigned that they may be constructed in considerably different sizes toaccommodate paper spools of greatly differing diameter, and yet all ofthese spool ho-ldersof different capacities can be connected to themounting means on the machine with equal facility.

Another object of the invention isto provide all of the foregoingadvantages in a construction which makes it extremely simple for anoperator to attach a new spool to the machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromaperusal of the specification in which a preferred embodiment of theinvention is illustrated and described.

Referring now to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is aside elevation illustrating the mount ing of the paper spoolholder on an adding machine of currentdesign.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the holder itself.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the manner of attaching the holder tothe frame of an adding machine.

Fig. 4 is another sectional view of the same device.

Referring now to the drawings, the adding ma,- chine on which the spoolholder is attached is provided with a bottom frame plate I and a rearvertical frame plate 2. The spool holder is provided with two sideplates 3 and 4 on which are I formed hooked projections 5. 6, I and 8designed to engage appropriate apertures or notches in the rear framplate of the machine. For convenience, the two upper hooked projectionsmay be seated in notches 9 and H for-med in the upper edge of the rearplate 2 while a. pair of slots such as the slot 12, shown in Fig. 4, areprovided at a lower position in the frame plate to receive the lowerhooks 6 and 8.

A rock shaft l3 will be supported in any suitable manner adjoining thevertical plate 2, and on it will be fixed the locking dogs I4 and 15which will normally be rotated to engage the upper margins of the hooks6 and 8 by means of a spring I 6 anchored to the vertical plate 2 and tothe cross member I! which is formed integrally with the locking dogs I4and I5 and extends from one to the other below the rock shaft I3. Formedintegrally with and depending from the cross member I1, is a thumb piecel8 which preferably will extend through an aperture l9 in the bottom ofthe frame plate I. By means of this thumb piece the operator may rockthe locking dogs forwardly to disengage them from the hooks 6 and 8.

Each of the side plates 3 and 4 is provided with an inwardly extendingboss, one of which is shown at 2|, to form a bearing for the cor of thepaper spool.

To give some rigidity to the paper spool holder, I provide a pair ofangle-shaped members 22 and 23 which may be secured to the side platesin any suitable manner. For example, their ends may protrude through thesid plates as shown and be swaged over.

All of the material used in this spool holder is preferably made of verylight metal, or other light and inexpensive material.

It will be apparent that in order to engage the spool holder with themachine, it is necessary only to engage the upper hooks 5 and 'l withthe notches 9 and II and push the hooks B and 8 through the slots suchas l2, where theywill automatically be engaged by the locking dogs andthe hooks pushed downwardly so that the notches, such as 24, inthe underside of the hooks will engage the vertical walls of th rear plate 2. Todisengage the spool holder, the looking dogs are released by the thumbpiece and the device lifted upwardly and rearwardly from the machine.

It will now be perceived by reference to Fig. 1 that normally the casingfor the machine can be designed to snugly surround the working parts ofthe machine, such as th keyboard located at 25 and the rockable platenmechanism 26, and allow the spool holder to extend slightly rearwardlyof the casing through an aperture therein. The casing to be used is, ofcourse, not a part of this invention, but as will be understood by thoseskilled in this art, it is common practice to employ such a snug fittingcasing as I have described. Even though the spool holder and spoolitself extend beyond the rear of such a casing, the use of light weightand easily distorted material in the spool holder will permit it toabsorb blows received thereby in accidents, without transmitting themwith serious results to the main frame of the machine. If the holder beso distorted in an accident as to interfere with the feeding of thepaper therefrom, a new holder and paper spool may instantly besubstituted. Likewise, in shipping the spool holder would not be mountedon the machine, as it would be a part of the supplies for the machineand would be packed and shipped separately.

It will also be understood now how a spool holder designed to hold apaper roll much larger than that illustrated in the drawings can beattached just as conveniently to the machine without requiring anyalteration of the machine to receive such a larger spool. Regardless ofthe diameter of the spool for which the holder is designed, the papertherefrom can, of course, be fed into the machine in the same manner, asI have illustrated in Fig. 3 showing the paper strip 2! fed upwardly andaround the platen roll 28.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 275,662filed May 25, 1939, for a patent on lAdding machines, now abandoned.

It will now be appreciated that the invention herein described isapplicable not only to adding machines but to other machines of thegeneral class known as business machines which employ printingmechanisms.

It should be understood that the drawings and the foregoingspecification illustrate and describe merely certain preferred forms ofthe invention, and that other modifications and variations of theinvention are contemplated and are intended to be claimed in theappended claims.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

1. A paper roll support comprising a pair of end plates composed of thineasily distorted sheet material, oppositely aligned bosses on saidplates near a margin thereof shaped for extending into an axial bore ina paper roll to form an axial supporttherefor, hook-shaped extensions onsaid plates for connection with a machine with which the roll is to beused, and rigid spacing elements of angle cross-section connecting saidplates and positioned to clear the paper roll.

2. A paper roll support comprising a pair of end plates composed of thineasily distorted sheet material, oppositely aligned bosses on saidplates near a margin thereof shaped for extending into an axial bore ina paper roll to form an axial supporttherefor, the opposite marginalportion of each plate being provided with hooked-shaped extensions forconnection with a machine with which the roll is to be used, rigidspacing elements of angle cross-section connecting said plates adjacentsaid hook extensions and positioned to clear the paper roll.

3. A paper roll support comprising a pair of end plates composed of thineasily distorted sheet material, oppositely aligned bosses on saidplates near a margin thereof shaped for extending into an axial bore ina paper roll to form an axial support therefor, the opposite marginalportion of each plate being provided with hooked-shaped extensions forconnection with a machine with which the roll is to be used, rigidspacing elements of angle cross-section connecting said plates adjacentsaid hook extensions and positioned to clear the paper roll, thedistance between the spacing elements and the bosses being determined bythe diameter of the roll for which the support is designed.

THOMAS O. MEHAN.

